Fish Report 6/29/25
Summer Catching -
"Ladies Day" -
Some Mahi Trips -
Web Site Fixed (I hope!) -
A Reef Report -
Old Predictions Make Plain Our Need of Better Management..
Fishing Sea Bass Everyday Weather Allows - Catching some flounder too - Haven't seen a cbass limit in a while, some double digits though.. Solid catches aboard most trips especially for anglers who work at it..
Sea Bass Reservations Are Now open Through Mid-July (7/14/25.) Fish Reports will come with greater frequency as mahi do - or don't(!) - show.
Announcing the first three mahi trips below; I'm holding late July & all of August in reserve to see how mahi play out this summer. I do dearly love that catching.
Have quite a few Lady Angler regulars - I'm making a special 'Lady Anglers Only' sea bass trip on Tuesday 7/15/25.. Buy a spot at $145, get another for $75.. Hopefully Cathy, Holly, Julie & from among so many others will bring a friend who wants to try this fishing..
Men who try to sneak aboard in drag will be left ashore or used for chum! (really - left ashore - it's a Ladies Trip!)
First Mahi Trips: July 10th - and then 16/17/18 - $250.00 - 6:30 to 3:30 - Twelve Anglers Sells Out - we fish one side where lines favor the drift. Limit 10 mahi per person (and wouldn't that be nice!) Light spinning tackle provided - Anglers are welcome to bring their own light tackle. If mahi just won't cooperate (happens!) I'll try to get some cbass for dinner!
Otherwise..
Sailing Saturdays 6:30 to 3:30 at $165.00 — Weekdays & Sundays 7 to 3 at $145 - All Sea Bass (& hopefully some Flounder!) Trips Sell Out at 18 Anglers. I sail up to a half-hour early if all are aboard..
Am now charging 10% gratuity for parties of five or more as a failsafe for crew. Most will surely see robust effort and sweeten that figure..
My long time friend and reigning Reef Queen (handles reef matters & mail!) - Marisa has taken over the helm on my reservation line.
Truly a sharp gal; she is still but a one person operation - & with a toddler at that. My anglers have enjoyed many more live answers and faster voice mail/text responses than in recent years. Have had many positive comments about Marisa already. If she cannot pick up, (she might be putting her 1 yo very handsome future angler down for a nap or any other Mom duty!) leave her a message or text her. She's been getting back to folks quickly.
Reservations at 443-235-5577 - The line closes at 8pm and reopens at 8am. Marisa won’t take reservations for trips that are not announced - but she can note & pass along your desires.
If you want a spot for a summer sea bass/flounder trip call Marisa on the reservation line at 443-235-5577.. Emailing/FB messaging me is no good. I have plenty on my plate without following the blow by blow of reservations. I won't have real time info on what's available (probably no idea!) - but Marisa knows exactly. I do check email for questions, however, & Facebook messenger from 'friends' too..
Be a half hour early! We always leave early!! ..except when someone shows up right on time.
Clients arriving late will see the west end of an east-bound boat. Seriously, with a limited number of reserved spots, I do not refund because you overslept or had a flat.. If you’re reserved and are the last person we’re waiting on - you’ll need to answer your phone. I will not make on-time clients wait past scheduled departure because of a misfortune on your part.
Sea Bass Size limit 13 inches - 15 per person. Catching a few summer flounder (aka 'fluke' north of DE Bay) most days also - 17.5 inches on them at four per person.
I try to always leave a half hour early (and never an hour early!) I rarely get in on time either. If you have a worrier at home, please advise them I often come home late. It’s what I do.
Website was supposed to show latest Fish Report and be searchable for waaayyy back reports. It was also supposed to be showing Facebook posts..
Didn't.
But, now it does! Well, sort of! One more repair should do...
All trips are announced via email from the sign-up at
Trips Are Also Sometimes Announced on Facebook on my personal page & at Morning Star Fishing..
I post after action reports (or lack thereof) (and sometimes detailed thoughts on fisheries issues) for EVERY TRIP on my personal FB page and Morning Star page. Posts including OC Reef Foundation work will be included on those pages as well. You do not need to be a registered FB user to see my posts and should soon be able to see them all on my website morningstarfishing.com
Bait is provided on all trips. Jigging is always welcome - it doesn't always work, but when it does? Fun and productive - we'll have jigs you can borrow too.
No Galley. Bring Your Own Food & Beverage.
If You Won't Measure & Count Your Fish, The State Will Provide A Man With A Gun To Do It For You. We Measure & Count — ALWAYS — No Exceptions!
It's Simple To Prevent Motion Sickness, Difficult To Cure. Chewable Bonine seems our best over the counter preventative because it's (supposed to be!) non-drowsy. It's truly cheap & effective insurance. If it makes you a bit sleepy - but not suffering extreme reverse digestive disorder? That's a great trade!
"The Patch" -Scopolamine- however, is an anti-nausea prescription that beats all comers.
If the ocean still wants to get the better of you? Zofran (anti-nausea frequently given by physicians and especially in surgery) can be a day saver. iI you have it left over from a prescription, bring it - if only for someone unprepared. We sometimes have a few aboard also.
Honestly - If you get to go on the ocean once a month, once a year or even less; why risk chumming all day?
Ahhhh, then there's the ebullience of youth! Of course you can party hard all night and go on a moderately calm ocean..
No you can't!
If you howl at the moon all night? Chances are good you'll howl into a bucket all day.
Get Rest & Take Preventative Medicine!
Please Bring A Cooler With Ice For Your Fish – We Do Not Mix Different Party's Catches In a "Boat Cooler" - A 48 Quart Cooler Is Fine For A Few People. Do Not Bring A Very Large Cooler. We have some loaners - you'll still need ice. I want your catch memorable even after the dishes are washed! Should you catch some monstrous fish, we’ll be able to ice it.
No Galley! Bring Food & Beverages To Suit. A few beers in cans is fine for the ride home.
Our daily fish pool is a $20 Split Pool - half goes to the heaviest sea bass or advertised species announced in AM. Perhaps summer flounder/fluke for instance - and half goes to our daily 50/50 reef raffle. Reef building works wonderfully off our coast - we're growing coral like crazy! I do all I can to fund/build & promote it.
Reef Blocks - As of 6/29/25 we have 43,934 Reef Blocks (mostly in units) & 2,551 Reef Pyramids (170lb ea) deployed at numerous ACE permitted ocean reef sites. There are also 1,336 pyramids deployed by MD CCA at Chesapeake Bay oyster sites working to restore blue ocean water. The Chesapeake will soon have many, many more. Counting those awaiting deployment at cement plants, there have been about 6,000 pyramids made since my crew and I fashioned a prototype mold in late August 2019.
Currently being targeted oceanside with reef block units: Crystal Ann Brinker's Memorial Reef - 136 Reef Blocks (mostly loose to create a foundation) - Ryan & Shari's Bay Breeze Reef 208 Pyramids (soon adding 416 more from Kinsley Materials in York PA!) - Uncle Murphy's Reef 284 Reef Blocks - Rambler Reef 488 Reef Blocks & 13 Pyramids - Pete Maugan's Memorial Reef 156 Blocks & 14 Pyramids - Calder's Reef Improvement - 224 Blocks & 12 Reef Pyramids - Virginia Lee Hawkins Memorial Reef 570 Reef Blocks (+98 Reef Pyramids) - Capt. Jack Kaeufer's/Lucas Alexander's Reefs 2202 Blocks (+57 Reef Pyramids) - Doug Ake's Reef 4,194 blocks (+16 Reef Pyramids) - St. Ann's 3,035 (+14 Reef Pyramids) - Gratitude Reef 344 Blocks & 12 Pyramids - New Reef at Jackspot #1 - 60 Blocks - and Another new reef at Jackspot #2 - 140 Blocks - And Yet Another(!) #3 - 20 Blocks - Sue's Block Drop 1,810 (+30 Reef Pyramids) - Kathy's Cable 318 blocks (11 pyramids) - Rudy's/Big Dad's Barges 164 Reef Blocks (+9 Pyramids) - Benelli Reef 1,552 (+18 Pyramids) - Capt. Bob's Bass Grounds Reef 5,206 (first reef to cross 5K) (+ 119 reef pyramids) - Al Berger's Reef 2,090 Reef Blocks (48 Reef Pyramids) - Great Eastern South Block Drop (Now Bill Beacher's Memorial Reef!) 260 Reef Blocks (+10 Pyramids) - Cristina’s Blast 140 Reef Blocks & 2 Pyramids - Capt Greg Hall's Memorial Reef 362 Blocks (+2 Pyramids) - Forgotten Block Drop at Great Eastern Reef 75 Reef Blocks (and caught cbass there!) - Kinsley Construction's Reef 964 Pyramids - Bear Concrete Reef 512 Pyramids, 44 Blocks - New Unnamed Reef at Bass Grounds 208 Pyramids, 20 reef blocks..
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Greeting All!
A hodgepodge of sorts - a new reef report and some old predictions showing why we're all going to wish management would apply my work on sea bass spawning production..
Reef Report 6/25/24
Capt Jerimiah (who finds the majority of our barges and tugs!) still has his tug in the yard getting new engines and general overhaul. Because they have to come to OC when finished, it will be much less expensive to tow Dave Hammond's two memorial reef tug boats around. Likely a savings of forty thousand or more(!) it pays to be patient. We'll deploy both tugs together with our heaviest mooring gear at Jackspot.
We also have a 50ft steel sailboat in Deale, a 75x45ft barge in Norfolk, the 50 Navy dive boat in Cambridge and a 50 ft steel pilot boat in Lewes - all waiting for one reason or another.
It's not unusual for reef building to be a pain in the neck to schedule - but this past year has been super tough!
However! Capt Stormy on the Tik XIV was on station June 16th before noon to deploy 208 pyramids in a moderate NE wind. Man's fished 60+ years; has a heavy weather boat - he got it done; built a nice piece of reef on good hardbottom that will never sand-in during any reader's lifetime. It's very much a part of my goal in the creation of a 'Bass Grounds Reef Restoration Group."
Promise - from bare concrete on 6/16/25, by late summer it will have lots of growth and be colonized by sea bass. In three years it will have resident spawning tautog and perhaps even the first of many corals.
We did a block drop on the 17th there because I needed to check the deployment - to actually see it with sidescan sonar. It's certainly a namable reef. Capt. Stormy will add more pyramids as time goes by.
There are some trap buoys on several of our reefs now. Beside being great to check under for summer mahi, the double buoy traps are for conch (knobby whelk) and the flags are for lobster. Please don't think they're 'stealing our fish.'
That's not the case..
The fluke (summer flounder) bite has come on some. That's a good thing. In 2016 I had predicted we'd have excellent sea bass fishing into 2022 and then it would taper - and continue to taper until management finally accepts the necessity of forcing small sea bass into the spawning stock.
I truly fear for our sea bass fishing in years soon to come.
Because reefs might be isolated by dozens of miles, and because sea bass have extreme site fidelity, they evolved so that some sea bass switch sex from F to M so they can balance a spawning population on any given reef. This ability is quite common in reef fish around the world.
Coming from what should have remained their lowest population ever at the dawning of the regulatory period, our region's sea bass stock grew exponentially from our earliest self management in 1992 - was accelerated wonderfully as state/fed management began in 1997..
In 2001 we were allowed all the sea bass we could catch so long as they were 11 inches - no bag limit then. My gosh did we ever keep all would .
In the fall of those early (pre-bag limit) years, high hook may well have had 150 or even 200 fish - one angler!
Were they diminished by 'recreational overfishing?'
No.
Their number increased even more owing the fantastic spawning production of the period - the following spring sea bass fishing would be even better..
In 2002 the size limit went from 11 to 12 inches with a creel/bag limit of 25 fish per person.
If regulation were all that mattered sea bass numbers should have shot to the moon.
Instead?
They began to diminish.
Made me crazy.
I finally solved the issue in 2006. Where all sea bass scientific study before 2000 shows male sea bass common at 6.5/7/7.5/8/9 inches - by 2003 that was no longer true. Now sub-9 in males were "not allowed" on reefs where 12/13 in males were abundant.
This behavior is everywhere in the upper order animal world. Would a bull bison allow a two year old access to his harem? Surely you can imagine numerous other examples..
I have my crew watch for small males - always. Their bright blue head gives them away. So far this year we've had two males under 10 inches (age 2) and none under nine (age one.)
Regulation based on data no one believes (recreational catch estimates) forced some 70+% of our sea bass from the spawning population.
More on that below..
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From an email I wrote to upper management sent 5/11/17 (round brackets in italics () are a recent addition for this report.) Bold/underlined/italics are original but emphasized for this piece.
......What a terrible place fishery management has come to.
To seem so brave in the telling of fishermen what (regulations) must be so, and gelatinous in the face of your own bad data. (by 2017 no one in fisheries science or management believed recreational catch estimates any more - and never should have. They still use em though. Bad data - really bad! - turns good science and sound management policies into a sham.)
Two years ago, owing a long & continuous slide in our region's sea bass population--but especially from the impact of sounding surveys for wind power driving away entire reef populations ..two years ago our region's sea bass hit rock bottom. (Spring run of 2015 was awful! High hook might have only had 3 sea bass..) Spawning populations over nearly all our reefs were at the lowest I'd ever seen.
I fished over a decade of the last of unregulated fisheries. Where we should have seen sea bass's nadir (should have seen their lowest population back then) has now been replaced with a recent event. (the spring run of 2015 was the worst ever - much worse than when there were no regulations at all.)
But in that nadir we witnessed a return of age one/age zero spawning last summer -- in 2016. From that sudden influx of so many more spawning sea bass we will see a rapid population rise as we experienced year after year in the 1990s & into 2000.
And from that population rise we will see increases in catch.
(Did we ever.. In 2017 we had multitudes of throwbacks - acorns that would become oaks. Then from from 2018 to 2022 we often had summer limits - that's when sea bass fishing is hardest, yet we were seeing some limits aboard most days - even boat limits occaisionally. We even caught some limits in 2023. Once reefs were again all colonized by larger/age 3 male sea bass again - in about 2020 - spawning began to decline as it had from 2002 to 2015 and we were harvesting from an already declining population..)
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(Here I tried to convince management why forcing small males into the spawning stock was a good thing - the 'why' we should try to achieve exponential spawning production..)
Date: Saturday, March 26, 2016 at 4:52 AM
Greetings All,
I was listening to several lectures by Dr. Stephen Nowicki of Duke University on the structure of populations & population growth when I believe he highlighted a means of demonstrating my grand view of sea bass restoration via maximized production & habitat creation/restoration.
My knowledge of population biology is paltry, but time & again what the Professor was saying fit precisely the model of sea bass I've been trying to get managers to employ for years.
There are many models of population growth. This is a simple attempt at illustrating enough science to bring general understanding of a real problem, a huge problem in sea bass restoration.
Some Quick Basics:
First, population growth is always constrained at some point by availability one resource or another. The professor illustrated the rule with a virus able to reproduce every few hours in exponential population growth being able to fill a good part of our solar system if not checked by resource restriction. Exponential population growth means it doubles & doubles & doubles. That the virus can reproduce so swiftly but is only able to achieve exponential growth for a short while is because of resource constraints which we might come to think of as 'habitat.' The virus runs out of nutrients (or planet?) and cannot sustain continued doubling.
In another example, Dr. Nowicki describes how, no matter how counter-intuitive, simply doubling the width of a piece of paper 50 times would result in 44 million miles of paper..
Doesn't work for me. I can't imagine it. I tried 1x2, x2, x2 .. When I hit the "=" key on my calculator for the 24th time my calculator said Error.
OK, doubling a population with a single spawn's big deal – not likely to happen many times in a row, if at all.
But fish are prolific spawners..
And I have seen sea bass double.
Made for some good fishing.
The professor then described experiments with single-cell paramecium & multi-cellular daphnia who's populations double very swiftly in test tube experiments.
(Often called 'water fleas,' Daphnia are apparently used widely in school curriculum. There are lots of test questions and essays online..)
Classroom Population Growth Experiment: Add 'water fleas' to a test tube with nutrients and monitor the population. Create & note population estimates daily on a graph.
The pattern usually seen is a gentle rise in population followed by exponential growth – where the population is doubling rapidly.
Dr. Nowicki lectures that exponential growth occurs in nature in newly colonized areas of habitat or after catastrophic population declines, (catching hard mimics catastrophe--Except(!) in regulated fishing size limit returns some fish & and creel/bag limits also aid. New artificial reef mimics newly warmed rocky areas as far as colonization occurs - when uncolonized areas are discovered {or rediscovered} spawning is maximized by 'all hands on deck' where all ages participate. For the MD Wind Area sounding catastrophe sea bass responded exactly as this professor argues - they recolonized 525 sq miles of patch reefs and their number grew exponentially.) ..that exponential growth is seen on a graph as a large capitol J. The lower population is represented by the lower left of the hook followed by a nearly vertical rise forming the stem of the J as the population begins doubling..
This J pattern resembles -precisely– Dr. Shepherd's sea bass biomass chart from 1998 to early 2004. (original brackets - (I theorize the left-side J from the mid 1970s is a result of LORAN-C electronic navigation becoming less expensive. With accuracy almost as good as GPS, it allowed the discovery and exploitation of micro-habitats such as shipwrecks in a time when large areas of natural live bottom were being lost to stern-towed gear damage.)
This section is NOT from Dr. Nowicki's lecture..(but was in the original.)
Hmm..
I wonder.
What if this schoolhouse experiment offered a prize to the student who could raise the most water fleas, the most daphnia. . .
One student keeps putting nutrients in and turns his test tube anoxic. Bacteria having used all available oxygen; with no life present he comes in last.
Another chains herself to the test tube rack declaring a Test Tube Protected Area and threatens to sue anyone who might dare touch her experiment – Unfortunately, when counted her daphnia were in the 'crash' segment of their population cycle and she places second to last.
Other students fare better. But one guy who already has a agri-business administration degree is trying to time removal of his water fleas when they're in their exponential growth phase so rapid population growth may continue.. Population Not Outpacing Resources And Therefore Not Crashing - His Water Flea Totals Are Much Higher.
..but he's beaten by a gal who uses the same approach of extracting animals while they're at their fastest population growth rate, but she keeps adding "habitat" in the form of more test tubes and using surplus production to seed these new 'habitats.'
Managing those new populations for exponential growth, her water flea total is incredibly higher.
Because sea bass have very clearly demonstrated habitat fidelity in the real world (they always return to the same reef after a short winter migration) and because reef habitat offers 'clumped' populations; a reef might easily be seen as a test tube population—as if isolated by habitat rather than glass. For management's purpose a 'reef complex' such as from Atlantic City, NJ to Chincoteague, VA could be thought of as a single spawning unit of sea bass.
Because sea bass spawning off Massachusetts this year are no more likely to spawn the following year off Maryland than cbass living off Cape Canaveral; managers looking at too large a geographic area miss regulatory-caused responses of smaller, habitat-isolated, spawning populations.
In truth, site fidelity is much finer than 'regional.' Almost all my sea bass tag returns were from the exact reef where fish were released despite availability of nearby habitats, sometimes just a quarter mile away.
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New thoughts..
I've been sea bass fishing 45 years now. Been paying very close attention most of that time.
I guarantee we know everything we need to drive our region's - any region's - sea bass to populations higher than have ever existed.
Seriously - EVER existed.
Restore reef habitat lost in the post WWII stern towed gear boom, then build even more. We also must force sea bass, via an 11 inch size limit, to spawn at age one on our most heavily fished reefs.
If this strategy were adopted we'd again witness exponential population growth.
If it isn't?
We're going to have some tough fishing in coming years.
Cheers,
Monty
Capt. Monty Hawkins
mhawkins@morningstarfishing.com
Reef Restoration Makes Fisheries Restorations Simple!